Behind the Jade Tiger by Christie Gordon

A Yaoi/ M/M romance short story to be released as part of eXtasy's Emerald Envisage Anthology, January 2009.

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Blurb:

Jordan just wants to get laid. When a female friend tells him his best chances for finding easy women are at a local gay bar, he jumps at the chance. But a mysterious and alluring young Asian man captures his attentions and shows him the truth behind his terrifying nightmares and the intense longings locked up in his heart. Will Jordan surrender to the truth?

Unedited Excerpt:

Jordan shifted his pale-blue eyes to the picture windows of his loft and looked out over the twinkling lights and squat buildings of downtown Scottsdale at night. There it was, the place he wanted to go to. A phone receiver pressed against his ear. "I'm telling you, it's the best way to get a girl. You know how they love those gay bars."

"You've got to be kidding me. If you really want to go there, you're on your own, dude."

"Shit, Steven, don't make me beg." Jordan raked his hand through straight, reddish-brown locks, angling down across his eyes and over the collar of a trendy black T-shirt. His lean and muscular build pulled the fabric tight across his chest.

"I won't because I'm not going."

"Fine. While I'm getting it on with some hot chick, you'll be all alone." Walking toward his kitchen, Jordan sighed and slammed the phone down on a granite counter. "Asshole."

He stuffed his hand into the front pocket of his low-rise jeans, passed the silver skull of his belt buckle, and took one last look around his loft. A modern, black leather couch sat opposite two chairs while sleek, cherry-wood end and coffee tables sat between and around them. Architecture trade magazines lay sprawled in a neat row across the top. He let out a soft chuckle. "Shit, maybe I am gay."

Jordan strolled to a small table, resting next to the door, grabbed his keys, and stopped. Was this really a good idea? Hell yes it was. Margie told him all the hot chicks digged that place and he was going. It was about time he got laid. Six months without sex was enough to drive any twenty-three year old insane. And the nightmares were getting worse. At least if he had someone in his bed, he might not have one tonight.

Jordan opened a tall door, stepped beyond it, and shut it behind him. "I'm going." As he walked the hallway, his eyes focused on the strange door-knocker a new tenant installed. It was in the shape of a tiger and made of some green stone. Was it jade, maybe?

Jordan shivered as he passed. Whatever it was, it reminded him of something, more like a mixture of feelings he couldn't quite describe. Deja-vous, yes, that's it.

After fumbling for his identification with the front-door bouncer and paying his five bucks, Jordan stopped just inside the bar. Disco lights flashed over a crowd of mostly male dancers and people chatting at tables. Techno music swept over his ears and pounded in his chest, matching his quickening heartbeat. Nothing to be nervous about, it's just a nightclub.

He slipped through the crowd and stepped up to the bar. A blown-glass counter glowed from underneath in hues of gold and chocolate. A bald man, naked from the waist up and heavily muscled, turned to face him. "What can I get you?"

Jordan opened his mouth.

"He'll have a gin and tonic, Harry."

Jordan twisted his body. His breath caught in his throat. Beautiful. What the hell was he thinking? His eyes roamed down the shorter, lithe frame of a young Asian man with large, brown eyes and dark hair framing his face in wispy layers. Long, red braids, no bigger than a pinky finger each, fell down over his tanned shoulders and leather vest. Numerous thick, silver chains hung around his neck and wrist and silver hoops adorned his ears.

"Hi, I'm Kira."

"K-kira?" Jordan's tongue felt thick and his mind reeled. Snap out of it. This is a dude, Jordan, a dude.

"Yeah, it's Japanese. You have a name?" A wide, flirtatious smile curled Kira's lips as his body slowly swayed to the rhythm of the music.

"I-I'm, uh, Jordan." Letting out an exhale, Jordan willed his shoulders to relax.

Harry placed a drink on the bar in front of Jordan. "That'll be seven dollars."

"I'll get it. After all, I did order it for you." Kira slipped a hand into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a wad of bills. He rifled through them and slapped a ten on the bar. "Keep the change."

"Thanks." Harry grabbed the money and walked back to the till.

Jordan snatched the drink, lifted it to his lips, and drank a few gulps. Burning lit up his throat. He coughed.

"Take it easy, it's not a shot." Kira laughed, a soft, sensual laugh and rubbed his palm over Jordan's back.

The touch and the low and seductive quality to Kira's voice rushed a familiar feeling into Jordan's groin, a feeling he usually got around women, not men. He stepped away. "I'm okay." Holy shit, this is not what I expected at all. Where are the women?

"Okay? I'd say you're better than okay, much better. You're stunning." Kira lifted a beer bottle to his lips and licked the glass tip, swirling his tongue before putting it to his mouth and taking a long swig.

Heat rushed Jordan's groin, making his cock pulse and swell. This guy is too much and I'm not gay, damn-it. The stuff he did with that guy in high school didn't mean anything. He was young. He didn't know any better.

Jordan forced his eyes away from the captivating young man in front of him to roam the bar for any sign of the opposite sex. His eyes stopped.

Two blonde women huddled together across from him at the bar, looking down at a cell phone. One glanced up at him and winked. Hell yes. He smiled.

"So, what are you into, Jordan?" Kira's brows furrowed as if pained.

"What?" Jordan brought his gaze back to study Kira.

Kira's demeanor changed to something bordering sadness. "I asked you what you were into." Kira bit his lower lip.

"I'm not sure what you—"

"Hey," A woman's voice called out.

Jordan twisted to face one of the blonde's from the other side of the bar, now standing next to him.

Her hair fell in waves over an obviously fake pair of breasts, shoved up high under a low cut, red dress. Smoky eye make-up and deep-red lipstick made her face look too made up.

"Hey." Jordan smiled at her. This was more like it. This was what Margie talked about.

"So, are you gay or straight?" Reaching her hand out, she ran a long fingernail down his chest. "Because my friend and I think gay guys are really hot."

"Uh, I'm, I'm gay." Jordan threw an arm around Kira and drew him near. "This is my, um, my lover, Kira."

Kira glanced up at Jordan and back to the woman. "Really . . . " A smirk curled his lips. "Let's dance, lover."

The woman giggled. "Yeah, go dance for us and do something really hot." She brought a short glass to her lips and took a sip from a skinny straw.

"Um, sure." A tug pulled Jordan's arm away from his body and led him toward the dance floor. He turned as Kira towed him into a crowd of churning people and flashing lights.

Kira's body pressed flush against Jordan's and his arms wrapped around Jordan's waist, swaying in a languid dance to the beat.

Tingling and humming raced along Jordan's skin in every place Kira touched him. An ache started deep in his heart and spread down to pool in his groin. He let his hands run a timid trail up Kira's back to rest on his shoulders. How he yearned to draw him near, to taste him. He licked his lips. What was happening to him? Why did he feel like this? Jordan glanced at the blonde woman at the bar.

With a dumb smile, the woman held up her glass in solute at Jordan.

Jordan forced a grin and nodded at her. The ache in his groin deepened. He willed his body to move against Kira's without giving in to the strange urges invading his body.

Still swaying, Kira parted Jordan's legs with his knee, bringing their hips together.

Oh God, Kira's hard. Jordan's eyes closed as his swelling cock brushed and ground on Kira's erection through their jeans. Pleasure seared into his groin and raced through his body. If he looked down, he'd be lost.

A soft moan escaped Kira as he placed his head on Jordan's chest and drew him nearer.

Jordan fought to keep control, to not let the delicious sensations flooding his body overrun his reason. Light flicked over his vision. Bodies danced in a serpentine rhythm around him, brushing and bumping against him, forcing his aching cock to grind over Kira's. Oh God, I can't help it, I can't stop, I can't . . .

Kira's lips claimed Jordan's, hard and insistent.

Need flooded out of Jordan's mouth as his tongue parted Kira's lips and entered, probing and penetrating with all the frustrated desire in his soul. His arms seized Kira as if he'd never let him go.

Moaning, Kira lifted his arms to hold tight to Jordan's head. He thrust his hips harder, faster, into Jordan's, as if taking all he could from him.

The dance floor vanished. Fluffy snowflakes floated down from a gray sky. The scent of pine wafted in the air. Trees stood like sentries all around them. Silken cloth slid across Jordan's skin and a chill shivered down his spine. He opened his eyes.

Kira broke the kiss.

Lights flashed in Jordan's face. Thrumming streamed in through his ears and played inside his chest. People danced all around him. He shoved Kira away. "What did you do to me?"

Confusion and something resembling hope washed over Kira's face. "What do you mean?"

"Did you give me some fucking date rape drug or something?" Jordan's lips still tingled and his groin begged for more.

"No, of course not. I would never do something like that to you." Kira grasped Jordan's arm. "Tell me what happened. Did you see anything?"

Jordan yanked his arm away, glaring at Kira. "You drugged me."

Lunging forward, Kira placed a rough kiss on Jordan's mouth while clutching his shoulders and tugging him down.

The snow, the cold, the trees, it all came back. The sorrow, oh God, the sorrow. Stinging filled his eyes as tears blurred his vision. The ache in his heart swallowed him, fed on him, ravaged him. "No!"

Kira held tight to Jordan's arm and hauled him across the dance floor, through a hallway, and out the door.